KALEIDOSCOPIC LAND OF EUROPE'S YOUNGEST KING
the hunting lodge of the Prince-Regent
Paul, and had seen the English Duke of
Kent and his fiancee, Princess Marina of
Greece, together with their host, casting
brilliant flies on creaming ripples.
As in former times, trout were lying mo
tionless in the green depths of chasm pools.
At picturesque Stara Fuzina I saw gran
ules of yellow cornmeal sifting down from
ponderous mill wheels. Maize, scarce in
many European countries, is an important
crop in Yugoslavia (Plate XXI).
The miller's wife sat reading her Bible
before her house on the hill, her face a mask
of aged yellow wax etched with the Ten
Commandments. We made a deal-pho
tographs in exchange for tea. As I sipped
the bitter brew in the chimneyless, smoke
encrusted kitchen, I knew that I had the
better of the bargain.
PATRIARCH OF THE JULIANS
Grandfather Triglav, patriarch of the
Julian Alps and highest mountain in Yugo
slavia, challenged us to tackle his dizzy
dome.
"No danger today with all the fool-proof
iron ladders and handrails," we were as
sured. But that the ascent was once fraught
with hazard is attested by the score of
graves of luckless Alpinists lying in a little
churchyard below the summit.
A dawn start, and by midafternoon we
were crawling over the grim giant's shoulder
where edelweiss seemed as thick as butter
cups in a New England pasture. At a youth
hostel came warnings of approaching stormy
weather: "Better return for the night to
the lower huts."
Clinging to the side of gaping abysses,
the trail led us downward. Light held until
we were ensconced in lamplit comfort. Then
the storm burst.
An hour later the door banged open to
admit a smiling figure streaming water from
a rubber poncho-a young Ljubljana pho
tographer supplying his picture postcards
to the chain of mountain inns.
He drank a cup of coffee, transacted his
business with the landlord; then, donning
raincoat, made for the door.
"May I ask where you are going?" I
inquired.
"To the next inn, up near the crest," he
nonchalantly answered.
"I have an electric
flash in my pocket."
"That's madness!" I exclaimed, as he
vanished into the night.
YUGOSLAVIA, GERMANY, AND ITALY
MEET IN THE JULIAN ALPS
A national playground in winter and summer,
the majestic mountains are also a frontier for
the land of the Southern Slavs.
The landlord only laughed at my con
sternation.
"To our people, these trails are
like a city street to you. From childhood
they know every rock and crevice."
ACROBATIC FARMERS ON STEEP SLOPES
The harvest time was at its fragrant busi
est as I drove with the Bled director of
Putnik (Yugoslavia's efficient national
travel agency) over fine, hard-surfaced
roads to Kranjska Gora.
Sometimes the roads passed beneath fields
which seemed almost standing on end; yet
the farmers swung scythes through lush
stems. Remarked my oracle: "It is said
that often the grass falls upon the mower's
head."
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